The home property at Gerogery is predominantly cropping and the soil varies from red brown earth to grey clay loam.The average rainfall is 650mm, however, this year it has been well over 1000mm.
This year we sowed wheat and canola. Around 10 days ago we windrowed the canola. At a guess (I think we lost around 10% of the canola due to the wet) about 20% will be average and 70% will be very good. However, I am not game enough to put a figure on the average yield yet.
The wheat has some wet patches but most of it is looking reasonable as it is on rising country, but we really won’t know until we get into it. We normally aim for 5+T/ha but again it is hard to say this season what the average yield will be.
The country is very reliable, and we are used to wet weather, but this season did bring a lot more challenges than a normal year. We have had to move towards using liquid fertiliser to ensure we get enough N early. The pre-emergent herbicides ran out of puff and in crop herbicides were a challenge, which will mean weed control challenges going further. Disease pressure was also high. Additionally, lambing was tough due to the wet and fly strike has been a significant issue.
Overall, we did get out all our planned inputs for the season, and we hope to start harvesting the canola next week. Our yields should be ok overall and by growing red wheat, it helps with disease management due to its improved disease resistance. This season has reinforced the need to be prepared for anything and don’t assume things will be simple, just control what you can.
Looking forward to getting this season done and hoping for a ‘normal season’ next year.